Justinas Pranaitis
Justinas Pranaitis | |
---|---|
Petrograd, Russian Empire | |
Nationality | Lithuanian |
Other names | Justinas Pronaitis Justin Pranaitis |
Alma mater | Sejny Priest Seminary Saint Petersburg Roman Catholic Theological Academy |
Occupation | Catholic priest |
Relatives | Julija Pranaitytė (sister) |
Justinas Bonaventūra Pranaitis (Russian: Иустин Бонавенту́ра Пранайтис; 27 July 1861 – 28 January 1917)[1] was a Lithuanian Catholic priest. He was a professor of Hebrew at the Saint Petersburg Roman Catholic Theological Academy and missionary in Uzbekistan. He is best known as the author of The Talmud Unmasked, and his subsequent involvement as a witness in the Bellis trial.
Biography
Education and professorship
Justinas Pranaitis was born on 27 July 1861 to a peasant family in Panenupiai near Griškabūdis in Congress Poland, client state of the Russian Empire.[2] After completing four classes at the Marijampolė Gymnasium, he enrolled at the Sejny Priest Seminary in 1878. He then continued to study at the Saint Petersburg Roman Catholic Theological Academy graduating with a Master of Theology in 1887. He was ordained priest in 1886.[2]
Right after graduation, Pranaitis replaced Daniel Chwolson as the Hebrew professor at the Theological Academy. In addition, Pranaitis taught liturgy and church singing. He became prefect of the academy in 1891.[2] He brought his younger sister Julija Pranaitytė to Saint Petersburg to study at a girls' gymnasium. She later became a publisher and editor of Lithuanian books and periodicals in the United States.[3] Pranaitis supported Lithuanian cultural activities in Saint Petersburg, including the Lithuanian and Samogitian Charitable Society.[4]
In 1894, Pranaitis was involved in a case of blackmail.[5] He brought a picture to be gilded, but it burned down in a framing studio. Pranaitis demanded a compensation of 1,000 rubles from the workshop for damages.[5] He claimed that it was a 17th-century painting by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo from the collection of archbishop Aleksander Gintowt-Dziewałtowski .[6] However, such painting never existed.[5]
Missionary
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/Cathedral_of_the_Sacred_Heart_of_Jesus_Christ.jpg/220px-Cathedral_of_the_Sacred_Heart_of_Jesus_Christ.jpg)
In 1895, Pranaitis was exiled to
He worked to construct churches in Tashkent (the Sacred Heart Cathedral), Samarkand (St. John the Baptist Church), Ashgabat, Gyzylarbat, Fergana as well as several chapels.[6] He established a Catholic charitable society and a few small libraries.[2] To help with construction, he built a sawmill that produced electricity.[7] He frequently traveled visiting more remote members of the congregation. To help with this task, he managed to get two railroad cars, one equipped for church needs and another with a kitchen and living space.[7] In 1909, Pranaitis accompanied auxiliary bishop Jan Cieplak to Manchuria and Japan.[2]
In 1904, he published a proclamation asking for donations for a church in Tashkent. It became the first Lithuanian-language publication after the Lithuanian press ban was lifted.[8] He also published articles in the Lithuanian press, including Lietuvių laikraštis, Šaltinis, Vienybė, Viltis.[2] He also published in Polish Przegląd Katolicki .[9]
Anti-Semitic work
In 1892, Pranaitis published an
In 1912, Pranaitis testified in the
Death
Pranaitis died from cancer on 28 January [O.S. 11 February] 1917 in Saint Petersburg.[9] He was buried by the Sacred Heart Cathedral that he worked to build in Tashkent. In 1923, the grave were destroyed by the Soviets. Bishop Pranciškus Būčys wrote 2118-page biography of Pranaitis but it remains unpublished.[2]
See also
- Criticism of the Talmud
- Dreyfus affair
References
- ISBN 3-88309-110-3.
- ^ ISSN 1648-9659.
- ISSN 2029-1299.
- ISSN 2029-1299.
- ^ ISBN 5-265-01448-9.
- ^ a b V.B. (May 1917). "Kun. Justinas Pranaitis (1861—1917). (Turkestano apaštalas)" (PDF). Ateitis (in Lithuanian). Vol. 5, no. VI. pp. 132–133.
- ^ a b Bružaitė, Violanta (27 July 2021). "Justinas Bonaventūra Pranaitis (1861–1917)" (in Lithuanian). Zanavykų muziejus. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
- ISBN 9986-09-018-0.
- ^ a b Jakaitis, Jonas J. (17 February 1917). "Mirė Kun. prof. Justinas Pranaitis" (PDF) (in Lithuanian). Vol. 22, no. 202. p. 1.
- ^ Blood Accusation: The Strange History of the Beiliss Case, Samuel, Maurice, Alfred A. Knopf, 1966.
- ISBN 9780881258684.
- ISBN 0-521-44761-5.
- ^ Scapegoat on Trial: The Story of Mendel Beilis - The Autobiography of Mendel Beilis the Defendant in the Notorious 1912 Blood Libel in Kiev, Beilis, Mendel, Introd. & Ed. By Shari Schwartz, CIS, New York, 1992